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From orangutans in Borneo's rainforest to bioluminescent plankton glowing off Koh Rong, seven Asian islands worth crossing an ocean to reach
Kazuo Ota / Unsplash
Asia holds countless islands, with Southeast Asia alone home to more than 20,000. Breathtaking diversity spans these slices of paradise, from wild orangutans on Borneo, the continent’s largest island, to Hindu spirituality in Bali, to a glimpse of what it takes to live past 100 in Okinawa. Visiting them all would take considerable time, but narrowing the list to a handful of the absolute best islands in Asia makes planning much more manageable.
Each island below offers its own mix of epic beaches and fascinating culture, giving travelers a genuine sense of the range that Asia’s islands have to offer in a single, curated list.
